IN FLAMES have, by the year 2024, built themselves a pretty diverse 14-album discography. Starting in the harsher ends of Gothenburg metal, they softened into more melodic death metal, before ultimately turning a bit metalcore in recent years. Their latest album, “Foregone,” was an interesting step forward in the metalcore sound, or perhaps a backward step towards melodic death metal, which – any which way you want to view it – seems to have been a positive change for most fans. “Soundtrack to Your Escape” was released on this day, March 29th, back in 2004, which lands it dead center in their discography at the moment, making it an interesting release to look back on for its 20th anniversary!
On a personal note, “Soundtrack to Your Escape” is one of my favorite IN FLAMES albums, simply because it has a handful of my all-time favorite songs from them, despite the fact that it has a lot of what I call “historical personal filler,” which I relate to the album’s diversity of sound. This means, essentially, that I love some songs at an extreme level, while there’s some material that I find fully unlistenable, per how much is does not suit my musical taste. However, I haven’t actually listened through this album in years at this point and my musical taste has changed a lot in that time, so this was a great time to revisit the full release.
I do find that “Soundtrack to Your Escape” is a front-heavy album, as is often the case with IN FLAMES albums, for whatever reason. I recall, as a teenager, that I really didn’t like “F(r)iend,” for being too heavy/thrashy, but I find it considerably less offensive as a 37-year-old who listens to everything than I did as a 17-year-old who was still getting acclimatized to growls. The thrashy elements still don’t appeal to me particularly, but that’s just a matter of personal taste and I do actually really like the guitar work that Jesper Strömblad is doing about three quarters of the way through. The album then moves on to “The Quiet Place,” which is conversely a song that I’ve always loved, because of the absolutely killer riffing in the beginning. “Dead Alone” is one of those songs that has wonderful use of blended vocals (both growls and cleans), coupled with being really punchy. “Touch of Red,” then, is a little grittier and more chugging in sound, with a really great melodic chorus.
“Like You Better Dead” sounds like it should be a CHILDREN OF BODOM song per its name, though the riffing style doesn’t sound like anything other than IN FLAMES (or maybe THE HALO EFFECT/CYHRA nowadays, since that’s where Jesper can be found). This is a pretty straightforward, heavy IN FLAMES song with a really gritty chorus that works very well. Then, “My Sweet Shadow” is one of my all-time favorite songs with one of my all-time favorite music videos – there’s just something about the (extremely cold-looking) warehouse-like setting with really well-used pyrotechnics that works for me. Also, the beginning riff for this song, as well as the way it evolves throughout the song’s 4½ minute runtime is nothing short of perfection. There’s been a vocal effect on Anders Fridén‘s voice for a long, long time by now and this is one of those instances where it’s put to incredible effect. Another great point about this song? The dynamic build-up from the soft verses in the bridge to the bangin’ chorus. This song is completely flawless, in my debatably humble opinion.
“Evil in a Closet” was one of the first songs that I fell in love with back in the day. I think it’s because of that chorus: “yell at me I want to / be your light that shines / but my ground is shaking and I might fall / I wish that I could say / I wish that I could be your evil / evil in a closet.” Combine this with the deeply emotional and moving instrumental work… I found it to be mysterious and oddly romantic at a time in my life when I loved that sort of thing. Again, the dynamic push is out-of-this-world and the general melodies are spectacular. This is another one of my all-time favorite IF songs and it’s wonderful!
At this point, we’ve passed through all of my old favorites again and we’re into unexplored territory . On relistening, my cats started up a mosh-pit in my office when “In Search of I” came on and this is another one of those songs that struck me as being way better than I remembered. It’s a heavier, less-melodic one, for sure, but the guitar sound is still spectacular and the more crushing nature is powerful and fierce. “Borders and Shading” is one of those songs that toed the line of my notice, as it’s another one that combines more melodic/non-growling verses with a very layered chorus, vocally – very solid!
“Superhero of the Computer Rage” is one of the more thrashy songs again, yet – like “F(r)iend” – it’s not as hard to listen to as it was in my formative years. Actually, this is a pretty solid moshing song with heavier growls, while maintaining a pretty catchy overall atmosphere. The original album then wrapped up with “Bottled,” which is one of the slower songs, yet with some of the harshest brutality in the vocals at times. Interspersed with cleans and with a forceful, melodic chorus, it acts as a decent closer that works well to bookend the album with “F(r)iend.”
Overall, like many IN FLAMES releases from this era, this album is packed full of hotter-than-hell tracks that have easily withstood 20 years and remain among the band’s greatest hits. With a 47-minute runtime, it’s a fairly long album, but pretty consistently good despite being close to an hour in length. While I might have called this a 50-50 album when it came out, nowadays I actually think it’s really solid more or less throughout and I’d call this one of their best albums from the era, along with “Come Clarity” (2006) and “Reroute to Remain” (2002). This was definitely really fun to revisit, so hopefully if you, too, give it a nostalgia spin, you might also find some new favorites! Meanwhile, I’ll catch you again in 2026 for the anniversary of “Come Clarity”!
Written by Bear Wiseman
Tracklist
- F(r)iend
- The Quiet Place
- Dead Alone
- Touch of Red
- Like You Better Dead
- My Sweet Shadow
- Evil in a Closet
- In Search of I
- Borders and Shading
- Superhero of the Computer Rage
- Dial 595-Escape
- Bottled
Read more IN FLAMES‘ anniversary specials: (2000) “Clayman” by Wille K.; (2002) “Reroute to Remain” by Bear W.; (2016) “Battles” by Bear W.; (2019) “I, the Mask” by Bear W.; (2023) “Foregone” by Bear W.
